Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/704

692 former case, on the first syllable, as well as on that before the antepenultimate.

The Perielesis may consist either entirely of notes of equal length, or of an intermixture of Longs, Breves, and Semibreves. In the former case, it is not always necessary to sing all the notes with exact equality of duration. In the latter, the Long must always be made longer than the Breve, and the Breve longer than the Semibreve; but it is neither necessary nor desirable that the notes should be sung in the strict proportion demanded by the laws of Measured Music.

A good example of Perielesis, where we should hardly look for it, is in a well-known passage in Mr. Sullivan's 'H.M.S. Pinafore':—

[ W. S. R. ]

PERIGOURDINE, or PERIJOURDINE, a country dance which takes its name from Perigord, where it is chiefly danced. It is sometimes accompanied by singing. The following example is from the Essai sur la Musique (Paris, 1780), of De la Borde and Roussier.

[ W. B. S. ]

PERIOD. A Period is one of the divisions which characterise the form of musical works, especially in such as are not very elastic in construction, as Tunes and Airs; and, frequently, the main subjects of large works in their simple exposition. It is common to find in these a first division ending with a half close followed by one ending with a full close, as in this example from Beethoven's Sonata, op. 109:—

These together are held to constitute a period, and the lesser divisions are phrases. A complete tune is often composed of two or three such periods, and such examples may be taken as types: but in fact periods must be exceedingly variable in structure. Sometimes the subdivisions into lesser members may be difficult to realise, and in others they may be subdivisible into a greater number of members of varying dimensions. A period is defined by some writers as a complete musical sentence, and this gives sufficiently well the clue to identify wherever it is desirable to do so. [ C. H. H. P. ]

PERLE DU BRÉSIL, LA. A lyrical drama in 3 acts; words by the MM. St. Etienne, music by Félicien David, his first opera. Produced at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, Nov. 22, 1851. David afterwards added recitatives. [ G. ]

PERNE,, born in Paris, 1772, was educated in a maîtrise, and during the Revolution became a chorus-singer at the Opéra. In 1799 he exchanged into the band, where he played the double-bass. A mass for St. Caecilia's day, performed in 1800 at St. Gervais, secured him the esteem of musicians; and in the following year he published a fugue in 4 parts with 3 subjects, which placed him amongst the foremost masters of harmony of the day. It is not however by his compositions that Perne's name will be preserved, but by his laborious and erudite works on some of the most obscure points in the history of music. His expenditure of time, patience, and learning, in hunting up, cataloguing, copying, and annotating the most important sources of information, printed and MS., on the music of the Greeks and the Middle Ages, was almost superhuman. One instance of his devotion will suffice. After publishing his 'Exposition de la Séméiographie, ou Notation musicale de Grecs' (Paris, 1815), Perne actually transcribed the complete score of Gluck's 'Iphigénie en Tauride' in Greek notation. In 1811 he was chosen to succeed Catel as professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, but his 'Cours d'harmonie et d'accompagnement' was not so clear that of his predecessor. In 1816 he became Inspector-general of the Conservatoire, and in 1820 librarian, but in 1822 retired to the country, and resided near Laon. In 1830 he removed to Laon itself, but the air was too keen for him, and he returned to Paris only to die, on May 26, 1832. His last published work wa the 'Chansons du Châtelain de Coucy' (Paris, 1830) [], but the 'Revue musicale' contains many of his articles, such as 'Les Manuscrits relatifs a la musique de l'Eglis Grecque,' 'Josquin Depres,' 'Jerome de 